Thirty years of telling people what to eat and how good it was for their
bodies got me thinking…. Was I being too theoretical… Is a carrot
really good for you? And what about the much talked about greens?

To my horror, after the time I have spent with farmers and their
practices, I discovered that I was wrong all those years. Not because
the vegetables have changed, but because our methods of cultivation
spell slow death for all those who consume them. We often scoff at those
who take their own lives with a swig of poison and the like. We have
not given much thought to the fact that this is precisely what each us
is indulging in everyday rather obliviously albeit in smaller doses.

Which led me to the question ‘are we just filling ourselves or are we
nourishing ourselves?’ or worse, ‘are we poisoning ourselves?’

I have since exchanged my vocation as a nutritionist to that of someone
coordinating an NGO involved with sustainable agriculture/organic
farming. It works among small and medium farmers. It is a small effort
to provide people with what is truly healthy and free of toxic poison.
Natural farming methods help to recreate living soil that is rich in
micronutrients that are so vital for growth and healthy functioning of
the human body.

With due respect to fitness trainers, physicians, nutritionists like
myself who chant “cut calories, burn fat and build muscle”,
there cannot be good health if your food and water is poisonous. The
more I interact with farmers, the more paranoid I get about the slow
poisoning of Indians, their soil and their bodies. Prolific literature
on health has made us very aware of what we should eat to be well
nourished in terms of carbohydrate, protein, fat and even minor
nutrients. But how much do we know about the quantum of chemicals that
affect our health despite consuming all that conventional wisdom thought
was ‘good for us’?

The carrot for example is synonymous with antioxidants, fibre and many
of the most virtuous nutrients. It is grown from a seed coated with
chemicals. The packing warns you that the seed is poisonous. All
warnings unfortunately end at that stage and the shining full grown
carrot that catches your eye under deceptive spot lighting in
‘hypermarkets’. The truth is that from seed to the final wash in a
carrot washing machine, toxins are used to keep weeds away, stunt growth
of leaves to add body to the root and even polish the ‘final
product’. As consumers we are enamoured by perfection in appearance and
forget that the very thing we pander for, can be lethal.

While not all of us have the luxury of indulging in quests to convert
farmers to natural methods, or shout ‘grow food without poison’ slogans
on the beach, we all need to eat to live. The number of organic outlets
in our cities and towns are growing rapidly, giving us the luxury of
investing in preventive health. Farmers groups are organising themselves
to find and sustain their own markets to bypass enslavement to
vegetable mafia. They surely deserve patronage from customers who care
about themselves, the environment and farmers who dare to grow food
without poison.

(A word of caution. As in any growing business, the authenticity of the
source must be investigated as inorganic as the effort sounds!)

Do eat to nourish yourself, not to poison yourself!

Nimmi Ittycheria John is a nutritionist by training. She has 30 years
of experience in research, clinical practice, teaching and writing. She
is now Project Director at The Earth Trust, a Nilgiri based NGO that is
into sustainable agriculture, women’s health and skill development in
rural areas and ecoclubs in panchayat schools in the district.

Post your comments
Unless you wish to remain anonymous, please provide your name and email
id when you use the Anonymous profile in the blog to post a
comment. All appropriate comments posted with name & email id in the blog will also be
featured in the site.